Tanzania

Tanzania is home to nearly 48 million people, most of whom live in rural areas with limited access to reproductive health care services. As a result, 25% of Tanzanian women would like to plan their families but do not have access to contraceptives, many pregnant Tanzanian women do not receive testing or counseling for HIV, and 50% of Tanzanian mothers do not deliver their babies in a health facility.

EngenderHealth works in partnership with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health to help meet the wide range of reproductive health needs of Tanzanian women and their families. Since 1982, we have worked to expand contraceptive choice and improve access to long-acting and permanent methods of family planning (LA/PMs), helping empower millions of women to choose which contraceptive method best fits their needs.

EngenderHealth works to ensure reproductive rights of Tanzanian women and their families by integrating family planning with HIV and comprehensive abortion care services. As part of our award-winning work in HIV, we facilitate outreach to marginalized groups, including sex workers and youth; and in 2008 we launched a national dialogue about engaging men in order to improve gender equity and reduce the prevalence of gender-based violence and disease.

EngenderHealth’s work in Tanzania is changing the health care landscape. Today, LA/PMs are in high demand throughout the country. At EngenderHealth-supported suites, the rate of HIV transmission between mothers and newborns is at an all-time low, and most postabortion clients leave the clinic with a contraceptive method of their choice. More needs to be done to achieve national reproductive health goals, and EngenderHealth is committed to continuing our work to improve access of Tanzanian women, men, and families to quality reproductive health.